The Nyamwezi of Tanzania
Location and Background: The Nyamwezi tribe (“people of the moon”) is the second largest in Tanzania, living principally south of Lake Victoria in west-central Tanzania. About 30% of Nyamwezi live and work outside of their 35,000 miles of land, in Tanzania’s commercial and agricultural centers.
History: It is believed the Nyamwezi and their related tribe the Sukuma arrived in their present location in the 16th c. Before Europeans arrived, they had an empire consisting of four clans, each descended from one ancestor. Their ancient king, Mirambo, was known to be a brilliant military leader. They were traders, and by 1800 they were involved in trade of copper, wax, ivory, and slaves with Arabs at the coast. Elephant hunting was a prestigious occupation due to the wealth from ivory trade. They also acquired guns and were often involved in intra-tribal wars, and conflicts with the Arabs.
Culture: The nuclear family lives together, and villages are not necessarily based on kinship relationships. Ideally every adult should be married. Various rituals are held for marriage and naming babies, and Westernization has had much influence on how the Nyamwezi function. Children go to the government schools. They are agriculturalists and pastoralists. Goats and sheep are used for sacrifices, and for their meat and skins. Their land is dry woodland, with scarce water, so it is not prime agricultural land. Men work the land, women care for the home.
Religion: The Nyamwezi embrace African Traditional beliefs, Islam and Christianity. They have much respect for their ancestors (the living dead), to whom they offer sacrifices and rely on for their benevolence. Most claim to be Muslims and follow the five pillars of Islam, but in reality they live by their animistic worldview, believing in a creator God, the spirit world, and the importance of using witchdoctors and other diviners to communicate with the spirits. It is reported there are 80,000 Nyamwezi in the Moravian church. The AIC-T has planted a hundred churches in the area but the majority of attenders could be Sukuma, not Nyamwezi. Some say up to 15% of Nyamwezi could be Christian, most of those are Catholic or nominal Christian.
Learn more about the Nyamwezi at Joshua Project or about Tanzania at Operation World.
The Man under the Mango Tree
A recent team of visitors felt like they had stepped right into Acts 14:24-28 as somewhat like, “Then they passed through TABORA and came to IPULU. And when they had spoken the word in UNYAMA they went down to URAMBO, KICHANGANI & KAPIULA and from there they sailed HOME where they were commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled… And when they arrived and gathered the church together they declared all that God had done with them, and how He had opened a door of FAITH to the Nyamwezi.” We are praising God that open door included answered prayers for a Nyamwezi man under a mango tree who accepted Jesus as His Savior! Bless the Lord He continues to build His church!
Soccer outreach
A band of believers began to meet last August in a new outreach village where there was no church. They began simply by gathering together youth to play soccer, shared their testimony as Christians, and showed the Jesus Film at night. From the outreach, new believers have begun to join in fellowship gathering under a simple tarp held up by poles. Pray for these believers as they grow in faith, the leaders who walk across a flooded river to get there, and for the believers to work in unity as they desire to gather stones and make bricks for a permanent church structure. Pray that they will share with their neighbors about belonging to a new family in Christ.
